Aesop’s fable of the Tortoise and the Hare is a childhood classic. The brash Hare, overconfident in his speed, naps and loses to the methodical Tortoise. The moral: “Don’t brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!” It’s a familiar story, yet its wisdom seems largely forgotten in today’s business world, particularly when it comes to innovation, where the mantra is often “more, faster, now!”

The Pitfalls of “Ready… Fire… Aim!” Innovation

Working with numerous companies on their innovation approach, I’ve frequently seen this “more/faster” mindset as the default. After all, isn’t innovation supposed to be agile and quick? The problem is, this rush often bypasses the foundational work required for sustained innovation success. The result? Confusion, uncoordinated efforts, and the chaotic “Ready… Fire… Aim!” syndrome, humorously depicted in Monty Python’s “No Sense of Direction” skit. 

As hard as it may be for some ambitious Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) leaders to accept, when introducing major innovation programs or fostering a culture of innovation (especially involving technology), it’s often critical to go slow initially to enable you to go fast, and win, later.

Building the Foundation: Go Slow to Go Fast

Before launching into a flurry of innovative activity, SMBs need to establish foundational elements and communicate them effectively. Building a compelling innovation story, engaging the right people, and aligning the culture to embrace experimentation are prerequisites for success. As your fractional CIO, I help businesses lay this groundwork for their technology-driven innovation. Let’s break these components down:

1. Craft Your Innovation Story (Start With “Why”):
   • Before you can be effectively innovative, your organization needs to understand why innovation is important for your specific business. As Simon Sinek powerfully argues, you must “Start With Why.”
   • Develop a compelling narrative for your innovation approach that clearly aligns with your overall organizational strategy and values. This ensures everyone understands what “innovation” means for your company, what fits, what doesn’t, and the general framework for pursuing it. A strong story creates alignment and avoids the “Monty Python effect” of random, uncoordinated action.
2. Engage The Right People (The Power of Diverse, Empowered Teams):
   • Jim Collins, in “Good to Great,” emphasizes getting the “right people on the bus.” This is paramount for your core innovation team. An effective innovation team thrives on:
     • Creative Tension: Diverse perspectives challenging each other constructively.
     • Varied Experiences: Insights from different industries, backgrounds, and roles. (See my thoughts on “The Art of Thinking Independently Together“).
     • Unique Tools & Approaches: Different problem-solving methodologies.
   • Building a team with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and thinking styles creates a healthy discomfort that significantly increases the chances of discovering breakthrough ideas. Furthermore, find ways to engage the entire organization in your innovation efforts; great ideas can surface from unexpected places.
3. Cultivate a Culture That Accepts (the Right Kind of) Failure:
   • This is often the toughest hurdle. Many leaders espouse innovation but are uncomfortable with the idea of failure. However, as I’ve discussed in “fail to Avoid Failure“, there’s a crucial difference between “Big-F Failure” and “little-f failure.”
   • “Little-f failures” – small, controlled experiments that don’t work out as planned but provide valuable learning – are essential to being innovative. Creating a culture that accepts, embraces, and learns from these “little-f failures” daily dramatically reduces the risk of catastrophic “Big-F Failures” and fosters a more resilient, adaptive organization.

A Strong Foundation Enables Speed and Impact Later

By taking the time at the beginning of your innovation journey to build this strong foundation, a clear “Why,” the right diverse team, and a culture that embraces learning from small setbacks, your SMB will be far better equipped to accelerate its efforts and achieve meaningful results later. While competitors might be “running fast” in many uncoordinated directions, generating little real innovation value, your “slow and steady” foundational work will allow you to strategically pass them and build a sustainable innovative capability.

Aesop’s wisdom endures: Slow and Steady Wins The Race.

What’s Next

Don’t let the pressure for immediate, frenetic activity derail your SMB’s potential for true, impactful innovation. Invest in the foundation. Go slow now, so you can go incredibly fast, and win… later.

Is your SMB struggling to move beyond random acts of “innovation” to build a sustainable, strategically aligned innovation capability, especially with your technology? If you’re looking for a partner to help you lay the essential groundwork for lasting innovation success, let’s connect with Succeed Sooner Consulting.